Sad Story: 86 Year-Old Man Forced to Part with His Record Library

About a year ago, it became apparent that my father-in-law could no longer live on his own, embarking the family on a journey to find him a seniors’ home and a personal care home in very short order. Concurrent with that was sorting through everything that was in the house. It was excruciating.

This is why I have so much sympathy for Ian Murrary, an 86 year-old New Zealander who has been collecting music for all his life. Now that he’s moving into a rest home, he’s had to say goodbye to his record collection. From The Vinyl Factory:

If you were saddened by last week’s news of a son selling off his father’s estate of over 250,000 records, this story about octogenarian Ian Murray is bound to tug at your heartstrings.

Having just moved into a rest home, the venerable New Zealander must now find a new home for his beloved record collection because there’s simply no room for it anywhere. For the moment the records are being stored (admittedly quite badly) at the old Timaru Majestic Theatre, free of charge.

Lawyer Tony Shaw is helping with the sale. “Those records represent his worldly wealth so we need to generate a bit of money for him so that he can buy a few basic things in life,” Mr Shaw told 3News. The aim is to sell off the entire collection in a single sale, hopefully to a seller that will receive as much pleasure out of records as Murray has.

Murray bought his first record in 1939, aged 10, and it’s been a lifelong obsession since. His giant collection covers all styles from jazz to rock and disco but his favourite genre has always been country music.

Although local newspapers have reported a collection size of 5000 records, in a video with The Timaru Herald Murray suggests a ballpark figure of 10,000 records. And judging by the photos, even Murray’s estimate seems conservative.

The whole story can be found here.